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What motivates you? If you are a creative person, putting your heart and soul into your art is a catharsis, of sorts. But what keeps you coming back for more? What keeps you sitting at your easel or workbench for 10 hours straight? For me, it's a way of paying it forward. I am closing in on my 60th birthday. I have been around the block a couple of times and have had some wonderful, and not so wonderful, experiences in my 60 short years on this planet. I have always been creative but I have not always been able to spend large chunks of time creating.

Wow, tomorrow is Valentine's Day already! I swore...SWORE that I was not going to spend my two days off with Mr. Virgo on the computer and what did I do? Monday...connected with other like-minded business on Facebook all day. A great way to free advertise each other's businesses. OK, Monday is Mr. Virgo's day to rest and catch up on some zzzzz's on the couch so I could have sat and watched him sleep or be productive...good choice, I thought. Then yesterday, it just so happens that my contract renews on my phone just before Valentine's Day.

Finally! Finally, finally, finally! I have the shop up, the website looks pretty good for a start, and I have over 40 items listed! My shoulders are aching from sitting in front of this computer for three days straight. The only thing I have to do now is read a little more and figure out how to calculate postage and then I am all set!!!

I know this is short, but I have typed 36 hours in the last three days and I've got to do something different for a little while. Like cooking, cleaning, yadda-yadda. I do believe I can go live in the next day!

I spent the entire day yesterday working on the website I started on 1&1. I finally got all the photos, descriptions, and prices loaded on the sales page. Then I went on to the settings for the online store and that's when I found there was no inventory control integrated in the software! I called the help line and asked what people do if they sell a one-of-a-kind item and he said, "Well, I guess you would have to go on the site really quick and manually delete the item." Grrrrrrr! I have to admit, this isn't something I thought of checking beforehand.

Nine years ago tomorrow, I lost my mom. She was only 78 and was sick for just 5 days and was gone. When I tell you I had no time to prepare, you might think that's silly. After all, she was 78, right? I just never let my mind go there, not even when we lost my grandma. She lived to be 93 so I had no reason to believe my own mom wouldn't live at least that long. But alas, that was not to be. I had been talking with her all that week and she was feeling bad, short of breath, weak. I encouraged her to go to the ER but she would have none of that.

We all have treasures in our lives. People we love. Beloved items from our childhood. For me, some of the most treasured items I have belonged to those I have loved in my life. I lost my mom 9 years ago on 1/24/2004. She is never far from my thoughts, but this time of year always makes me yearn to pick up the phone and talk to her or run to WV for a much needed Mom hug. My mom was the kindest woman I have ever known. She would, quite literally, give you the shirt off her back. As with every mother-daughter relationship, ours was sometimes testy.

I received my photography "studio in a box" yesterday. I have it set up in the spare bedroom, away from the glare of the morning sun in my studio. I haven't received the props yet...the "shoulder boards" for the necklaces, so I'm practicing taking photos of some vintage pottery pieces I have picked up along the way. I am a sucker for old things. Things that have been loved by others and find their way into my hands makes me wonder whose hands held them originally. Were they gifts from an admirer or a school child eager to honor her mom on her birthday?